Wessington Springs herald. (Wessington Springs, Aurora County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1891, 1887-04-22

hale is loaded with alcoholic vapor; the
liver md kidneys are bending every energy
to excrete the poison. All are over-ex-
erted, and when the work is done and the
poison cleared out, every bodily organ is
tired, and there is a feeling of languor; the
man is tired out, ana i%ndisposed to any
active mental Or physical labor.
That is the history of one dose of alco-
hol, and the physical manifestations differ
only i'll degree. due to the magnitude of the
dose. The greater the amount of alcohol,
the more violent the efforts of the bodily
organs to get rid of it, the greater the re-
sulting exhaustion. 1t is plain that q con-
tinuance of the drink habit through months
and years will eventually bring on grave
disorders of the bodily functions, and spe-
citic diseases of the great organs. The
stomach, from frequent contact with the
tierp poison, becomes infamed and tender:
Indigestion and its train of evils always
follow. There is q loss of appetite, nothing
tastes good and the pleasures of healthy
eating and drinking are unknown to drink
ing men,.
The kidneys are often the seat of deep
and incurable disease, brought on by al
cohol. 1t is the testimony of medical au-
thorities that seven out of eight cases of the
dreaded and incurable "Bright's disease"
are due to the effects of Rum. The exclu-
siye use of beer and other malt LIQUORS is q
frequent cause of calculi in the bladder, or
gravel"
The liver, the largest and most import
ant gland in the body, is another victim Of
the Rum habit. The use of alcohol pro-
duces in it a disease called %cirrhosis, COM
monty called "hob-nail liver" or whisky
liver" It is %incurable, and drags its VIC
tim slowly down to sure and agonizing
death.
The heart is one among the first of the
vital organs to feel the effects of this in
fernal poison. From the constant excess
sive stimulation and over-action its tibers
become weakened, and finally its muscular
walls undergo fatty degeneration. This is
very dangerous; for any sudden shock, or
over-exertion, or exposure to cold, or ia
tigue, or any very depressing influence,
may cause sudden death. Heart disease
the Coroner calls it, to soften the grief of
the friends; but it is alcohol that kills the
man.
Along with this alteration of the heart,
or perhaps preceding or following it, is q
decided arrangement of the coats of the
arteries. The walls of these blood vessels,
in a state of health, are firm and elastic,
| and their power of recoil is a necessity in a
perfect, healthy circulation of the blood.
These strong, resilient coats become thin
| and dilated or else brittle from the deposit
proper fiber: A little undue pressure then
may cause a rupture of the walls, and sud-
den death at once results.
OF course the brain and nervous system
suffer. The brain itself is hardened by the
use of alcohol, because it contains much
| albumen, and alcohol will harden it as it
| will the white of an egg. Mental vigor is
destroyed. The entire nervous system is
subject to a long train Of grave disorders
from the use of this poison. We need only
| refer to that terrible nervous arrangement
| called mania a potu, and delirium tremens,
that horror of all horrors, to call to mind
the danger to any n of o nervous tenn
permanent from indulgence in rum. Another
nervous derangement-insomnia or sleep
lessness-is one of the distressing results
a reduced supply of blood in the brain, and
this reduced supply. from the altered ac-
ton of the heart and blood vessels, is not
granted to the alcoholic.
These evils CONT, slowly. The habitual'
drinker finds alcohol-Rum in some form
"a daily necessity. He awakes in the
morning unrefreshed, and prefers q morn
| ing dram to his breakfast. As the day
advances the nervous system feels feeble,
the mind is dull, the muscles grow tired,
and another drink is required. The ac-
ton is followed by reaction, and after the
glow has subsidized and the artificial
strength is expended, the same necessity
occurs again; and thus it goes, the alcohol
ishment of the body. Hundreds of thou
sands of people are living in this unnatural
way.
The irritation Of the stomach produces
dyspeptic symptoms among the very first
effects of habitual drinking. The stomach
and entire alimenlary canal are sure. .arged
with gus, md annoying tiatulency results.
The bowels become irregular. The kid
neys DO not secrete naturally, sometimes
acting too much and at o,her times too lit
tie. Sleep also becomes irregular, at one
time III overpowering stupor at night oc-
curing, or else being deficient, resulting in
a nervous, irritable condition by day, and
D wakeful, worrying feeling by night.
alcohol. The ca'iber of the small blood
vessels being SO frequently contra, ted and
relaxed. they lose their tone. and the red
nose, flushed cheek, suifused eye, pimply
eruptions, clammy skin, sometimes dry and
again covered with q profuse perspiration,
soon mark the drinking man among his
fellows.
One of the inevitable attendants of an
indulgence in alcohol is a thirst that is con-
staut. Alcohol has a great natural affinity
for water, and the tissues OF the body that
are soaked wild alcohol keep requiring an
inordinato supply. such s body naturally
deteriorates, grows gross, its secretory or
gans are overtaxed, its stomach distended,
its heart enfeebled, its muscles relaxed,
and the whole nervous system loses its
tone and activity. Such q man feels every